This invention relates to a roof for vehicles of the type having an outwardly tiltable closure panel which is raised and lowered by a telescopic screw-type jack.
Tilt-out roofs of this type are known (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,142,761; 4,219,231; and 4,428,614, as well as copending, commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 416,160, filed Sept. 9, 1982). The telescopic jack of such tilt-out roofs is furnished by itself or, especially in the case of tilt-out roofs intended for retrofit installation, together with the frame and a gripping bowl, in pre-assembled condition. However, for installation, it is necessary to temporarily remove the turning handle and the gripping bowl in order to be able to insert, from above, the telescopic jack into the frame or, in the case of a lifting roof for a retrofit installation, the roof including the frame, without the turning handle and/or the gripping bow being in the way. However, after the turning handle is removed, undesired and uncontrolled mutual shifting of the threaded parts of the telescopic jack may occur in the case of the known arrangements. These parts must then be adjusted with respect to one another before the turning handle is mounted again.
The invention, therefore, has an object of eliminating these disadvantages and of improving the known tilt-out roof of the vehicle in such a way that uncontrolled mutual movements of the threaded parts of the telescopic jack are avoided during the installation.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, this object is achieved by the fact that the turning handle has a rotary plate establishing the connection to one threaded part and closing the telescopic jack toward the bottom, as well as a separate handle rim that is detachably connected with the rotary plate. The turning handle is, therefore, constructed in two parts. The rotary plate forms a securing means which, when the handle rim is removed, holds the threaded parts of the telescopic jack in a predetermined position with respect to one another. The tilt-out roof can, therefore, be built as a pre-assembled unit and retrofit installed, as a whole, into a vehicle, while the handle rim is removed. Then, the gripping bowl and the handle rim, which may interfere with the mentioned assembly or installation, can be fitted without the requirement of a previous cumbersome mutual alignment of the threaded parts of the telescopic jack.
In cases where at least the lower part of the telescopic jack is laterally enclosed by an essentially collar-shaped housing part, the rotary plate is preferably in the area of its outer circumference supported rotatably at this housing part. So that the rotary plate itself does not have a disturbing effect during the assembly or installation, its exterior dimensions are expediently equal to or smaller than the exterior dimensions of the housing part in a plane that is normal with respect to the axis of the telescopic jack. For reasons of stability, the handle rim is preferably cap-shaped, and the bottom of the handle rim is held so that it rests against the bottom side of the rotary plate. The connection of the handle rim and the rotary plate may be carried out in any arbitrary manner, especially by clipping-on or by means of at least one screw. In order to obtain a large lever arm, catches are provided at a distance from the axis for transferring the torque from the handle rim to the rotary plate. These may expediently be molded onto the handle rim or the rotary plate in the form of projections which engage in matching indentations or recesses of the rotary plate or of the handle rim.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, several embodiments in accordance with the present invention.